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John Charter surveys recent events in camp:

Another month has come. September did not see the end of the war in Europe as most of us thought it might....

Today we were all given our first vitamin capsule. I cautiously bit mine and tasted a most terrible flavour of concentarted fishiness! So I hastily swallowed the rest. We are to have one capsule each, every other day, and this will suply us with the necessary amount of vitamins A, B1, B and C....

The electricity came on again last Sunday, 24th! We had never really expected it, so its advent was hailed with great delight. Unfortunately it is available only for lighting purposes, and then only from 7.30 till 9.30 p.m. each evening. We cannot use it for cooking, so we still have no bread - we shall never see bread again in this camp I think - and they cannot make yeast again. The cessation of the camp yeast supply, when the electricity was cut off, is probably a contributory factor to the increase of beri-beri for yeast is rich in vitamin B, However, these 2 extra hours of daylight are a great boon and a blessing, for it grows dark at 7.30 now and it used to be terribly dreary just sitting and chatting after 7.30. The trouble is that there is simply nothing to sit and talk about in here! We have often noticed how trivial conversation has become. War news has always been the number one topic, except for occasional spates of repatriation or parcels etc..... So now we all diligently strain our eyes from 7.30 till 9.30 under our 25 watt lights and then grope around in the dark and go to bed!

The water suppply is still very uncertain. Sometimes it flows all day and some times it comes on just for a short time in the mornings and then not again till the evenings....

Source:

Anthony Crowley Charter, The First Shall Be Last: The War Journal of John Charter and the Memoirs of Yvonne Charter, Grosvenor House, 2018, pp. 439-441.

On Thursday 21st we were notified that we could release another parcel making 3 in all. I had to get a few parcels from other blocks to make up my aggregate which was even then slightly different from the last regime in as much that the children under 4 years didn't get another parcel or they benefit from supplies of klin milk, Pallum, Homogenous Vegetables and orange juice. This issue we easily made and all are more or less pleased, tho' in a camp like this it is impossible to please everyone, some of course are perpetual and impossible grumblers. To give them the Kingdom of Heaven wouldn't be more than some expect.

Today we received the first of our new vitamin tablets which taste like burnt rubber, we are all to receive one every other day for the next few months and the Medical Authorities hope that they will greatly benefit the camp greatly.

The rations are getting very much poorer in quality and quantity and it would be very unbelievable to anyone outside to realise the inadequacies of what is handed out. Poor help rotten vegetables, salted dried sprouts and whitebait and rice, continual rice, congee and brew at 8 in the morning. Rice and hash made from vegetables, such as teroci while melon, turnip sweet potatoes etc at 11.15 am and a similar diet at 5pm with bay tea occasionally a little fried sprats or pressure cooked sprats and whitebait the poorest quality of fish well cats would rarely look at it or they would turn up their noses at the very idea.

However the war in Europe at least seems to be making real progress and the Germans are being driven back to their own borders where they are going to get it good and hard in the neck.

I've had an attack of diarrhoea for several days and with an awful lot of bleeding and plenty of pain, my haemorrhoids are becoming active again. I'll have to do something about them really. See Prof Digby during next week. 

((Following text not dated:))

Woman's body disembowelled. Hungry dogs.

Another month has come. September did not see the end of the war in Europe as most of us thought it might; but a great deal has happened during that month. The campaign in France developed at lightening speed and now our allied forces in the East and West fronts are practically on the German frontiers; in fact we are into NW German territory. Now the German armies seem to have finished retreating and they are evidently going to make their final stand. So it seems to me that they may yet hold out a month or so, or they may collapse within a week or two, for we seem to have complete air superiority and that is of great importance. Anyway, I am still hoping my date of Oct 17th will bring forth something.

I hear that our forces have now made a big landing on the Dalmation Coast. If this is true (I have not seen an official report of it) it looks as though Germany will shortly be attacked from the South, through the old Balkan routes; then she will truly be ringed round by foes. In our portion of the globe it seems that the Americans intend shortly to fall upon the Philippines; also that an American – Chinese thrust may develop from the region of Kweilin towards the coast. So Hong Kong may again come within the battle zone. Well, nothing can happen too fast for us here.

Today we were all given our first vitamin capsule. I cautiously bit mine and tasted a most terrible flavour of concentrated fishiness! So I hastily swallowed the rest. We are to have one capsule each, every other day, and this will supply us with the necessary amount of vitamins A, B1, B and C. A curious thing has happened since the parcels arrived (unexpected by most of us) and that is there has been an increase in the number of cases of beri-beri in camp. Dr Deane-Smith has explained this by saying that before the parcels arrive, most of us were receiving just sufficient of the vitamin B groups (the difficiency of which causes beri-beri) to balance our diet in that respect. The extra food, though rich in protein and carbo-hydrates, did not contain any vitamin B and, in respect to this group, our diet became more unbalanced than before! Who would have thought it could work that way!? Consequently, a lot of people began putting on weight rapidly – which pleased them very much at first – but it was the wrong kind of weight being chiefly fluid, and their legs and ankles swelled, etc. Fortunately a lot of thyamin was sent with the medical supplies and many people have been given thyamin injections. But these vitamin capsules should set most of us right. Taking them every other day they will last the camp for 15 weeks, till the end of January.

People have put on a lot of weight. Harold says he put on 5 lbs in the past 6 days! Yvonne has put on 6 lbs in the first two weeks and now, I am glad to say, weighs 111 lbs. I have not weighed myself recently. I feel I have put on some weight though I shall be satisfied if it is only 1 lb per week, for we are not just wading into our parcels. We aim at making a 1 lb tin of butter last us a fortnight (i.e. about 1/3 of the amount we normally ate in peacetime), also a 1 lb tin of milk and jam last 2 weeks. A 12 oz tin (340 grams) of bully-beef lasts for 4 days, the luncheon rolls for three days, the 8 oz salmon for two days and the 3½ oz sardines for one day. In this way these latter tins will last for about 60 days, so after we have finished a tin we wait a day or two before opening the next. In this way we plan to make our parcels last till the end of the year. If only we had a date to work to it would make it so much easier! It is a depressing thought to think of finishing our parcels and then going back to the old starvation diet! Surely something will have happened by then. It would be almost more annoying though to be suddenly retaken here and find we had eaten only half our food!! It is all very difficult!

The electricity came on again last Sunday, 24th! We had never really expected it, so its advent was hailed with great delight. Unfortunately it is available only for lighting purposes, and then only from 7.30 till 9.30 p.m. each evening. We cannot use it for cooking, so we still have no bread – we shall never see bread again in this camp I think – and they cannot make yeast again. The cessation of the camp yeast supply, when the electricity was cut off, is probably a contributory factor to the increase of beri-beri for yeast is rich in vitamin B. However, these 2 extra hours of daylight are a great boon and a blessing, for it grows dark at 7.30 now and it used to be terribly dreary just sitting and chatting after 7.30. The trouble is that there is simply nothing to sit and talk about in here! We have often noticed how trivial conversation has become. War news has always been the number one topic, except for occasional spates of repatriation or parcels etc. Just now it is: “My Dear! Isn’t the war news marvellous? How much of your parcels have you eaten? Wasn’t the play good last night?” and that’s about all! 

So now we all diligently strain our eyes from 7.30 till 9.30 under our 25 watt lights and then grope around in the dark and go to bed! This 7.30 till 9.30 applies to town as well. That is all the current they get too. So we are thankful for small mercies. 

The water supply is still very uncertain. Sometimes it flows all day and some times it comes on just for a short time in the mornings and then not again till the evenings. Now, if anyone wants a bath, we have first to go to the kitchen tap (which is off the rising main) and make sure that the main is still on. If it is off we have to wait for it to come on again before we can have a bath or a shower, for the bath is always kept half filled as a reserve supply for washing and flushing purposes and nowadays one fills the bath after one has bathed instead of before!

Cooler, E wind, cloudy.

Very poor rations. Issue of vitamin tablets commenced.

Tiffin coffee with Mrs. Brown. ((MW Brown?))

Altered wheelbarrow for C. Jones.

No lorry, no news, no smokes.

With Steve pm.

Full moon.

Dutch complain re woodchopping in quiet hour. 

((Not sure who C Jones refers to.))

OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass airbases at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

RESULTS: Six B-25s bomb White Cloud airbase and three B-25s bomb Tien Ho airbase.  One B-25 returns its bombs to base after it encounters a thunderstorm over the target and is unable to complete its bomb run.  Damage to targets is unknown.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~6:35 to 9:20 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Ten B-25s from the 11th Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

  • B-25H #43-4989: 1st Lt. Kenneth N. Martindale; 2nd Lt. Philip J. Holman; Staff Sgt. Lester W. Helrigle; Staff Sgt. Bazil E. Murray; Sgt. Gene O. Gorup
  • B-25H #43-5072: 2nd Lt. Arthur E. Thomas; Flight Officer John J. Hanley; Corporal Oscar G. Jones; Staff Sgt. Jerome J. Krasowitz; Tech Sgt. Robert E. Mongello
  • B-25H #43-4272: 1st Lt. Charles S. Nichols; 2nd Lt. Charles G. Fredricks; Staff Sgt. Frederick J. Reyer; Staff Sgt. William C. Zimmerman; Staff Sgt. Merrill B. Hewitt
  • B-25H #43-4165: 2nd Lt. Charles N. Buchtel; 2nd Lt. William D. Easter; Corporal Archie E. Hollabaugh; Corporal William O. Hogaboom; Corporal Chester E. Jones
  • B-25H #43-4902: 2nd Lt. Peter W. Petersen; 2nd Lt. George E. Doyle; Corporal Walter Paslowski; Corporal William C. Chandler; Sgt. Earl M. Hathfield
  • B-25J #43-3884: 1st Lt. Simpson D. Huffaker; 2nd Lt. Daniel M. Hill; 1st Lt. Ernest L. Painter; Staff Sgt. Alfred J. Weber; Staff Sgt. Manivel A. Coronado; Staff Sgt. Leo P. Demarais
  • B-25J #43-28807: 1st Lt. Harry G. Charles; 1st Lt. Winthrop W. Dada; 1st Lt. Charlton W. Doyle; 2nd Lt. Edward Tempest; Sgt. Frederick E. Benesch; Staff Sgt. Harold J. Toornburg; Sgt .Edward J. Hnilica
  • B-25J #43-3949: 1st Lt. James C. Talley; 2nd Lt. Murray T. Brown; Flight Officer Lawrence J. Corsa; Sgt. Thomas C. Cushing; Staff Sgt. Arthur E. Blain; Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Loso
  • B-25J #43-4091: 1st Lt. Henry D. Wagner; 2nd Lt. G.F. Bogue; 2nd Lt. Emil A. Zogheib; Tech Sgt. Lindon W. Oliver; Sgt. Glen C. Maynard; Corporal Charles G. Edelman
  • B-25D #43-3614: 2nd Lt. Leander L. Smith; 2nd Lt. John J. Wise; 1st Lt. Thomas S. Ackley; Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Bowles; Staff Sgt. Bertram Schwartz; Staff Sgt. Howard F. Avent

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 175 x 100-pound fragmentation bomb clusters

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None, though one B-25 is hit by a single machine-gun bullet

SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

OBJECTIVE: Fly a series of staggered single-aircraft night raids to harass Tien Ho airbase at Canton and prevent JAAF pilots from flying night bombing missions against American airbases in China.

RESULTS: Due to weather conditions, no B-25s hit Tien Ho airbase.  Instead, they strike alternate targets that include the town of Wuchow (six aircraft), river traffic (one aircraft), and White Cloud airbase (two aircraft).  The bombing ignites large fires in Wuchow.

TIME OVER TARGET: ~6:40 to 8:30 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight B-25s from the 491st Bomb Squadron (341st Medium Bomb Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW:

  • B-25H #43-4159: 1st Lt. F.O. Cullen; 1st Lt. R.K. Shaw; Staff Sgt. W.S. Faulkner; Staff Sgt. S.W. McDonald; Staff Sgt. M. Bogel
  • B-25D #43-3291: 1st Lt. E.M. Hexberg; Lt. Col. J.K. Hester; 1st Lt. S.D. Brown; 2nd Lt. H.S. Olson; Staff Sgt. W.M. Gornik; Tech Sgt. R.W. Hirtle; Staff Sgt. O.A. Harper; Capt. E.L. Carey
  • B-25H #43-4361: 1st Lt. J.E. Andrews; 1st Lt. F.J. Belot; Staff Sgt. G.A. Penney; Tech Sgt. J.W. Schmitt; Staff Sgt. W.R. Green
  • B-25H #43-4602: 1st Lt. J.H. Shields; 2nd Lt. R.V. Zaloudek; Staff Sgt. L.C. Jones; Tech Sgt. H.E. Gordon; Staff Sgt. R.D. Driscoll
  • B-25H #43-4319: 1st Lt. K.R. Bridges; 1st Lt. A.J. White; Staff Sgt. J.T. Young; Tech Sgt. J.H. Starling; Staff Sgt. H.R. Lehmann
  • B-25J #43-3904: Captain R.G. Hunt; 2nd Lt. G.G. Mann; 2nd Lt. S. Mazer; 1st Lt. R.E. Allen; Staff Sgt. M.E. Vollmer; Tech Sgt. J.B. Clark; Staff Sgt. A.L. Matos
  • B-25D #43-3288: 1st Lt. P.J. Ley; 2nd Lt. W.R. Briggs; 1st Lt. W.W. Merrill; 1st Lt. H.R. Edelman; Staff Sgt. F. Norkus; Tech Sgt. R.L. Koenig; Sgt. G.D. Tanchum
  • B-25J #43-4604: 1st Lt. R.M. Blake; 2nd Lt. A.E. Armstrong; 1st Lt. R.J. Kacik; 2nd Lt. T.F. Jordan; Staff Sgt. F.W. Konkolics; Staff Sgt. W.C. Cheverie; Staff Sgt. A.J. Quinn

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 152 x 100-pound fragmentation cluster bombs (M1-A1)

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

Sandbach / Brown

R.C.A.M.C. Multevit capsules issued one every other day